Dynamically created shared spaces

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a social networking system automatically create a shared space for posting requests to the social networking system from multiple users based on social, spatial and temporal proximity, and create a news feed corresponding to the shared space.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to a social networking system,and more particularly, to methods of automatically creating a sharedspace for posting requests to the social networking system from multipleusers based on social, spatial and temporal proximity, and creating anews feed corresponding to the shared space.

BACKGROUND

A social networking system, such as a social networking website, enablesits users to interact with it and with each other through the system.The social networking system may create and store a record, oftenreferred to as a user profile, in connection with the user. The userprofile may include a user's demographic information, communicationchannel information, and personal interests. The social networkingsystem may also create and store a record of a user's relationship withother users in the social networking system (e.g., social graph), aswell as provide services (e.g., wall-posts, photo-sharing, or instantmessaging) to facilitate social interaction between users in the socialnetworking system. A geo-social networking system is a social networkingsystem in which geographic services and capabilities are used to enableadditional social interactions. User-submitted location data orgeo-location techniques (e.g., mobile phone position tracking) can allowa geo-social network system to connect and coordinate users with localpeople or events that match their interests. For example, users cancheck-in to a place using a mobile client application by providing aname of a place (or selecting a place from a pre-established list ofplaces). The geo-social networking system, among other things, canrecord information about the user's presence at the place and possiblyprovide this information to other users of the geo-social networkingsystem.

SUMMARY

Particular embodiments relate to methods of automatically creating ashared space for posting requests to the social networking system frommultiple users based on social, spatial and temporal proximity, andcreating a news feed corresponding to the shared space. These and otherfeatures, aspects, and advantages of the disclosure are described inmore detail below in the detailed description and in conjunction withthe following figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example social networking system.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method of dynamically creating a sharedspace for posting requests from multiple users.

FIGS. 3 and 3A-E illustrate example web pages and aggregated news feedentry for a shared space.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example flow chart or decision tree of creating ashared space for a mobile photo upload request.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example computer system.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example mobile device platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is now described in detail with reference to a fewembodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are set forth in orderto provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It isapparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the presentdisclosure may be practiced without some or all of these specificdetails. In other instances, well known process steps and/or structureshave not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscurethe present disclosure. In addition, while the disclosure is describedin conjunction with the particular embodiments, it should be understoodthat this description is not intended to limit the disclosure to thedescribed embodiments. To the contrary, the description is intended tocover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be includedwithin the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims.

A social networking system, such as a social networking website, enablesits users to interact with it, and with each other through, the system.Typically, to become a registered user of a social networking system, anentity, either human or non-human, registers for an account with thesocial networking system. Thereafter, the registered user may log intothe social networking system via an account by providing, for example, alogin ID or username and password. As used herein, a “user” may be anindividual (human user), an entity (e.g., an enterprise, business, orthird party application), or a group (e.g., of individuals or entities)that interacts or communicates with or over such a social networkenvironment.

When a user registers for an account with a social networking system,the social networking system may create and store a record, oftenreferred to as a “user profile”, in connection with the user. The userprofile may include information provided by the user and informationgathered by various systems, including the social networking system,relating to activities or actions of the user. For example, the user mayprovide his name, profile picture, contact information, birth date,gender, marital status, family status, employment, education background,preferences, interests, and other demographical information to beincluded in his user profile. The user may identify other users of thesocial networking system that the user considers to be his friends. Alist of the user's friends or first degree contacts may be included inthe user's profile. Connections in social networking systems may be inboth directions or may be in just one direction. For example, if Bob andJoe are both users and connect with each another, Bob and Joe are eachconnections of the other. If, on the other hand, Bob wishes to connectto Sam to view Sam's posted content items, but Sam does not choose toconnect to Bob, a one-way connection may be formed where Sam is Bob'sconnection, but Bob is not Sam's connection. Some embodiments of asocial networking system allow the connection to be indirect via one ormore levels of connections (e.g., friends of friends). Connections maybe added explicitly by a user, for example, the user selecting aparticular other user to be a friend, or automatically created by thesocial networking system based on common characteristics of the users(e.g., users who are alumni of the same educational institution). Theuser may identify or bookmark websites or web pages he visits frequentlyand these websites or web pages may be included in the user's profile.

The user may provide information relating to various aspects of the user(such as contact information and interests) at the time the userregisters for an account or at a later time. The user may also updatehis or her profile information at any time. For example, when the usermoves, or changes a phone number, he may update his contact information.Additionally, the user's interests may change as time passes, and theuser may update his interests in his profile from time to time. A user'sactivities on the social networking system, such as frequency ofaccessing particular information on the system, may also provideinformation that may be included in the user's profile. Again, suchinformation may be updated from time to time to reflect the user'smost-recent activities. Still further, other users or so-called friendsor contacts of the user may also perform activities that affect or causeupdates to a user's profile. For example, a contact may add the user asa friend (or remove the user as a friend). A contact may also writemessages to the user's profile pages typically known as wall-posts. Auser may also input status messages that get posted to the user'sprofile page.

A social network system may maintain social graph information, which cangenerally model the relationships among groups of individuals, and mayinclude relationships ranging from casual acquaintances to closefamilial bonds. A social network may be represented using a graphstructure. Each node of the graph corresponds to a member of the socialnetwork. Edges connecting two nodes represent a relationship between twousers. In addition, the degree of separation between any two nodes isdefined as the minimum number of hops required to traverse the graphfrom one node to the other. A degree of separation between two users canbe considered a measure of relatedness between the two users representedby the nodes in the graph.

A social networking system may support a variety of applications, suchas photo sharing, on-line calendars and events. For example, the socialnetworking system may also include media sharing capabilities. Forexample, the social networking system may allow users to postphotographs and other multimedia files to a user's profile, such as in awall post or in a photo album, both of which may be accessible to otherusers of the social networking system. Social networking system may alsoallow users to configure events. For example, a first user may configurean event with attributes including time and date of the event, locationof the event and other users invited to the event. The invited users mayreceive invitations to the event and respond (such as by accepting theinvitation or declining it). Furthermore, social networking system mayallow users to maintain a personal calendar. Similarly to events, thecalendar entries may include times, dates, locations and identities ofother users.

The social networking system may also support a privacy model. A usermay or may not wish to share his information with other users orthird-party applications, or a user may wish to share his informationonly with specific users or third-party applications. A user may controlwhether his information is shared with other users or third-partyapplications through privacy settings associated with his user profile.For example, a user may select a privacy setting for each user datumassociated with the user and/or select settings that apply globally orto categories or types of user profile information. A privacy settingdefines, or identifies, the set of entities (e.g., other users,connections of the user, friends of friends, or third party application)that may have access to the user datum. The privacy setting may bespecified on various levels of granularity, such as by specifyingparticular entities in the social network (e.g., other users),predefined groups of the user's connections, a particular type ofconnections, all of the user's connections, all first-degree connectionsof the user's connections, the entire social network, or even the entireInternet (e.g., to make the posted content item index-able andsearchable on the Internet). A user may choose a default privacy settingfor all user data that is to be posted. Additionally, a user mayspecifically exclude certain entities from viewing a user datum or aparticular type of user data.

The social networking system may maintain a database of informationrelating to geographic locations or places. Places may correspond tovarious physical locations, such as restaurants, bars, train stations,airports and the like. In one implementation, each place can bemaintained as a hub node in a social graph or other data structuremaintained by the social networking system, as described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/763,171, which is incorporated by referenceherein for all purposes. Social networking system may allow users toaccess information regarding each place using a client application(e.g., a browser) hosted by a wired or wireless station, such as alaptop, desktop or mobile device. For example, social networking systemmay serve web pages (or other structured documents) to users thatrequest information about a place. In addition to user profile and placeinformation, the social networking system may track or maintain otherinformation about the user. For example, the social networking systemmay support geo-social networking system functionality including one ormore location-based services that record the user's location. Forexample, users may access the geo-social networking system using aspecial-purpose client application hosted by a mobile device of the user(or a web- or network-based application using a browser client). Theclient application may automatically access Global Positioning System(GPS) or other geo-location functions supported by the mobile device andreport the user's current location to the geo-social networking system.In addition, the client application may support geo-social networkingfunctionality that allows users to check-in at various locations andcommunicate this location to other users. A check-in to a given placemay occur when a user is physically located at a place and, using amobile device, access the geo-social networking system to register theuser's presence at the place. A user may select a place from a list ofexisting places near to the user's current location or create a newplace. The social networking system may automatically checks in a userto a place based on the user's current location and past location data,as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/042,357 filed onMar. 7, 2011, which is incorporated by reference herein for allpurposes. An entry including a comment and a time stamp corresponding tothe time the user checked in may be displayed to other users. Forexample, a record of the user's check-in activity may be stored in adatabase. Social networking system may select one or more recordsassociated with check-in activities of users at a given place andinclude such check-in activity in web pages (or other structureddocuments) that correspond to a given place. The check-in activity mayalso be displayed on a user profile page and in news feeds provided tousers of the social networking system.

Still further, a special purpose client application hosted on a mobiledevice of a user may be configured to continuously capture location dataof the mobile device and send the location data to social networkingsystem. In this manner, the social networking system may track theuser's location and provide various recommendations to the user relatedto places that are proximal to the user's path or that are frequented bythe user. In one implementation, a user may opt in to thisrecommendation service, which causes the client application toperiodically post location data of the user to the social networkingsystem.

A social networking system may support a news feed service. A news feedis a data format typically used for providing users with frequentlyupdated content. A social networking system may provide various newsfeeds to its users, where each news feed includes content relating to aspecific subject matter or topic. Various pieces of content relating toa particular topic may be aggregated into a single news feed. The topicmay be broad such as various events associated with users within athreshold degree of separation of a subject user, and/or updates topages that a user has liked or otherwise established a subscriberrelationship. Individual users of the social networking system maysubscribe to specific news feeds of interest. U.S. Pat. No. 7,669,123,incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes, describes asystem that can be used to dynamically provide a news feed in a socialnetworking system. A group of related actions may be presented togetherto a user of the social networking system in the same news feed. Forexample, a news feed concerning an event organized through the socialnetworking system may include information about the event, such as itstime, location, and attendees, and photos taken at the event, which havebeen uploaded to the social networking system. U.S. application Ser. No.12/884,010, incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes,describes a system that can be used to construct a news feed comprisingrelated actions and present the news feed to a user of the socialnetworking system.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example social networking system. In particularembodiments, the social networking system may store user profile dataand social graph information in user profile database 101. In particularembodiments, the social networking system may store user event data inevent database 102. For example, a user may register a new event byaccessing a client application to define an event name, a time and alocation, and cause the newly created event to be stored in eventdatabase 102. For example, a user may register with an existing event byaccessing a client application to confirming attending the event, andcause the confirmation to be stored in event database 102. In particularembodiments, the social networking system may store user privacy policydata in privacy policy database 103. In particular embodiments, thesocial networking system may store geographic and location data inlocation database 104. In particular embodiments, the social networkingsystem may store media data (e.g., photos, or video clips) in mediadatabase 105. In particular embodiments, databases 101, 102, 103, 104,and 105 may be operably connected to the social networking system'sfront end 120 and news feed engine 110. In particular embodiments, thefront end 120 may interact with client device 122 through network cloud121. For example, the front end 120 may be implemented in softwareprograms hosted by one or more server systems. For example, eachdatabase such as user profile database 101 may be stored in one or morestorage devices. Client device 122 is generally a computer or computingdevice including functionality for communicating (e.g., remotely) over acomputer network. Client device 122 may be a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, personal digital assistant (PDA), in- or out-of-car navigationsystem, smart phone or other cellular or mobile phone, or mobile gamingdevice, among other suitable computing devices. Client device 122 mayexecute one or more client applications, such as a web browser (e.g.,Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari,Google Chrome, and Opera, etc.) or special-purpose client application(e.g., Facebook for iPhone, etc.), to access and view content over acomputer network. Front end 120 may include web or HTTP serverfunctionality, as well as other functionality, to allow users to accessthe social networking system. Network cloud 121 generally represents anetwork or collection of networks (such as the Internet, a corporateintranet, a virtual private network, a local area network, a wirelesslocal area network, a wide area network, a metropolitan area network, ora combination of two or more such networks) over which client devices122 may access the social network system.

In particular embodiments, location database 104 may store aninformation base of places, where each place includes a name, ageographic location and meta information (such as the user thatinitially created the place, reviews, comments, check-in activity data,one or more web pages associated with the place and corresponding linksto the one or more web pages, and the like). Places may be created byadministrators of the system and/or created by users of the system. Forexample, a user may register a new place by accessing a clientapplication to define a place name and provide a geographic location andcause the newly created place to be registered in location database 104.As described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/763,171, informationabout a created place may be stored in a hub node in a social graph,which an administrator can claim for purposes of augmenting theinformation about the place and for creating ads or other offers to bedelivered to users. In particular embodiments, system front end 120 mayconstruct and serve a web page of a place, as requested by a user. Insome embodiments, a web page of a place may include selectablecomponents for a user to “like” the place or check in to the place. Inparticular embodiments, location database 104 may store geo-locationdata identifying a real-world geographic location of a user associatedwith a check-in. For example, a geographic location of an Internetconnected computer can be identified by the computer's IP address. Forexample, a geographic location of a cell phone equipped with cellular,Wi-Fi and/or GPS capabilities can be identified by cell towertriangulation, Wi-Fi positioning, and/or GPS positioning. In particularembodiments, location database 104 may store a geographic location andadditional information of a plurality of places. For example, a placecan be a local business, a point of interest (e.g., Union Square in SanFrancisco, Calif.), a college, a city, or a national park. For example,a geographic location of a place (e.g., a local coffee shop) can be anaddress, a set of geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude), or areference to another place (e.g., “the coffee shop next to the trainstation”). For example, additional information of a place can bebusiness hours, photos, or user reviews of the place. In particularembodiments, location database 104 may store a user's location data. Forexample, a user can create a place (e.g., a new restaurant or coffeeshop) and the social networking system can store the created place inlocation database 104. For example, location database 104 may store auser's check-in activities. For example, location database 104 may storea user's geographic location provided by the user's GPS-equipped mobiledevice.

In particular embodiments, a user of the social networking system mayupload one or more media files to media database 105. For example, auser can upload a photo or a set of photos (often called a photo album),or a video clip (or an audio clip) to media database 105 from a clientdevice 122 (e.g., a computer, or a camera phone). The user may furtherselect one or more privacy settings for each of the uploaded media files(e.g., accessible to only first-degree connections, accessible to onlyfirst- and second-degree connections, accessible to all users of thesocial networking system). In particular embodiments, the one or moremedia files may contain metadata (often called “tags”) associated witheach media file. For example, a photo shot by a digital camera maycontain metadata relating to file size, resolution, time stamp, name ofthe camera maker, and/or location (e.g., GPS) coordinates. A user canadd additional metadata values to a photo, or tag a photo, during or inconnection with an upload process. Some examples of tags of a media fileare author, title, comments, event names, time, location, names ofpeople appearing in the media file, or user comment. In oneimplementation, the client device 122 may implement the Exchangeableimage file format (Exif), or a modified version thereof. In particularembodiments, a user may tag a media file by using a client application(e.g., a photo or video editor), or entering one or more tags in agraphical user interface of a media uploading tool that uploads a user'sone or more media files from a client device 122 to the socialnetworking system. A user may also tag a media file after an upload at alater time in the social networking system's web site. U.S. Pat. No.7,945,653, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety and for allpurposes, describes methods of enabling a first user of a socialnetworking system to select a region of a photo and associate theselected region to a second user, and in response to a confirmation fromthe second user, storing the association in a database. As described inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/763,171, the photo and relatedinformation (e.g., one or more privacy settings) may be stored in aparticular node of a social graph, while the association between thephoto and the second user may be stored in an edge connecting theparticular node and a user node for the second user. For example, inresponse to a user's request, the social networking system may, based onthe one or more privacy settings, display the photo with a tagcorresponding to the second user, while the tag comprises a link to awebpage (e.g., a user profile page) associated with the second user. Inparticular embodiments, the social networking system may also extractmetadata from a media file and store the metadata in media database 105.

In particular embodiments, news feed engine 110 may access user profiledatabase 101, event database 102, location database 104 and mediadatabase 105 for data about a particular user of the social networkingsystem, and assemble a list of one or more activities as news itemsabout the particular user. In particular embodiments, news feed engine110 may access privacy policy database 103 and determine a subset ofnews items based on one or more privacy settings by the particular user.In particular embodiments, news feed engine 110 may compile a dynamiclist of a limited number of news items about the particular user in apreferred order (i.e., a news feed). In particular embodiments, newsfeed engine 110 may provide links related to one or more activities inthe news items, and links providing opportunities to participate in theactivities. For example, a news feed about a user can comprise theuser's wall posts, status updates, comments on other users' photos, anda recent check-in to a place (with a link to a web page of the place).In other embodiments, news feed engine 110 may access user profiledatabase 101, event database 102, location database 104 and mediadatabase 105 and compile a dynamic list of a number of news items abouta group of related actions received from users of the social networkingsystem (i.e., a news feed). For example, a news feed can comprise anevent that a user may schedule and organize through the socialnetworking system (with a link to participate the event), check-ins at aspecific geographical location of the event by the user and otherparticipants of the event, messages about the event posted by the userand other participants of the event, and photos of the event uploaded bythe user and other participants of the event. Particular embodimentsherein describe methods of automatically creating a shared space forposting requests to the social networking system (e.g., requests forstatus update, photo upload, or location check-in) from multiple usersbased on social, spatial and temporal proximity, and creating a newsfeed corresponding to the shared space.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method of dynamically creating a sharedspace for posting requests submitted by multiple users. FIG. 2 can beimplemented by a shared space creating process hosted by one or morecomputing devices of the social networking system. The server-sideshared space creating process may operate in connection with aclient-side posting application hosted on one or more client devices. Inparticular embodiments, the shared space creating process may receivefrom each of a plurality of users a current location and a postingrequest to the social networking system (201). In particularembodiments, a posting request may comprise a request for uploading oneor more media files (e.g. a still photographic picture, a video clip, ora still frame of a video clip), a location or place check-in request, astatus update (e.g., a text string, an URL link), or a response to anevent invitation (e.g., “accept”, “tentative”, “decline”). For example,the shared space creating process may receive from multiple peopleattending a baseball game, individual posting requests from eachindividual's mobile device to the social networking system. A user mayaccess a client posting application (e.g., a photo uploading tool, or aspecial-purpose client application for the social networking system suchas Facebook for iPhone) hosted by the user's GPS-equipped mobile phoneand compose a posting request, causing the client posting application totransmit a posting request comprising the user's identifier for thesocial networking system and the user's current location (e.g., GPScoordinates) with a time stamp. Additionally, if a user's location datais not available from the posting request (e.g., no GPS signal receivedby the user's mobile phone at the time of the posting request), theshared space creating process may access location database 104 toretrieve the user's most recent location and associated time stamp(e.g., the most recent recorded GPS coordinates and associated timestamp from the use's GPS-equipped mobile phone, or the most recentlocation check-in data). Other methods for identifying the location ofthe user may include data reports from POS terminals or mobile devicesof other users that have interacted with the user's mobile phone viaBlueTooth or Near-Field Communications protocols. Yet another method foridentifying the location of the user may include location and time stampdata from a recent photo that the user is tagged in or otherwiseassociated with.

In particular embodiments, the shared space creating process may assesssocial and spatio-temporal proximity between a subset of users of theplurality of users based on information associated with the postingrequests (202). If there is a threshold number of posting requestswithin the subset of users or their posting requests fit a profile thatindicates a shared space is likely, the shared space creating processmay automatically create a shared space. For example, the shared spacecreating process can access user profile database 101 based on the useridentifiers, location data and time stamp data of the uploadingrequests, to identify a subset of users who are within one or twodegrees of separation from each other, and are requesting to post fromlocations within a threshold radius, and within a threshold time window(such as 20 to 45 minutes). The shared space creating process maydetermine a common location by averaging GPS coordinates locations ofthe posting requests for the subset of users, and determine a commontime instance by averaging time stamp data of the posting requests fromthe subset of users.

In particular embodiments, the share space creating process may create ashared space for the posting requests of the subset of users within athreshold spatio-temporal proximity (203). In one implementation, ashared space can be maintained as a hub node in a social graph or otherdata structure maintained by the social networking system, as describedin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/763,171. In particularembodiments, the shared space creating process may create a shared spacebased on a common location and a common time instance between theidentified subset of users. For example, the shared space creatingprocess can access location database 105 and based on the commonlocation, identify a location or a place (e.g., a coffee shop, a ballpark, a beach) near the common location, and create a shared space(e.g., “Wrigley Field, 4 Jul. 2010”) based on the common location andthe common time instance. For example, the shared space creating processcan access location database 104 to identify a location or a place basedon the common location, access event database 102 based on theidentified location or place and the common time instance, and create ashared space by identifying an event happening at or near the identifiedlocation and the common time instance (e.g., a baseball game “Mets vs.Cubs”).

In particular embodiments, the shared space creating process mayassociate the shared space to the posting requests of the subset ofusers and store the posting requests in one or more data stores. Forexample, a particular user of the subset of users may request to uploadmedia files to the social networking system, using a client postingapplication (e.g., a photo uploading tool) hosted by the particularuser's mobile phone. The shared space creating process can transmit amessage to the client posting application, causing the client postingapplication to add (or tag) the shared space to metadata of the mediafiles that the particular user requests to upload to the socialnetworking system. The shared space creating process can store thetagged media files uploaded to the social networking system by theclient posting application in media database 105. For example, aparticular user of the subset of users may request to check in to aplace corresponding to the shared space (e.g., a baseball park “WrigleyField” for a shared space “Mets vs. Cubs”). The shared space creatingprocess may store the particular user's check-in activity and itsassociation with the shared space in location database 104. For example,the shared space creating process may store a user's status update(e.g., a text string and a time stamp) and its association with theshared space in user profile database 101. In particular embodiments,the shared space creating process may set one or more privacy settingsfor the posting requests. For example, the share space creating processcan limit access to a posting request of a shared space to first-degreecontacts of the requesting user. In some implementations, the user maybe prompted to specify privacy settings while making a posting request.

In one embodiment, the shared space creating process may suggest a firstshared space to at least one of the subset of users. For example, foreach user of the subset of users, the shared space creating process cantransmit a message to the client posting application hosted by theuser's mobile phone, causing the client posting application to presentthe first shared space to the user. If one or more users of the subsetof users confirm the first shared space, the shared space creatingprocess may associate the first shared space to the posting request fromeach of the subset of users and store the posting requests in one ormore data stores.

In particular embodiments, the shared space creating process may createand store an event associated with the shared space in event database102. In some embodiments, the shared space creating process mayconfigure the event associated with the shared space to be unique to thesubset of users, for example, the attendees of the event associated withthe shared space can comprise of only the subset of users. In oneembodiment, system front end 120 may, as request by a user, constructand serve a structured document (e.g., a web page, an iframe) of a hubnode corresponding to the shared space, as described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/763,171. Yet in another embodiment, the sharedspace creating process may create a photo album for the shared space andassociate one or more media files (e.g., a photo, a video clip) from theposting requests (e.g. from a photo uploading request) with the photoalbum, i.e., upload the media files to the photo album. The shared spacecreating process may also set one or more privacy settings on the photoalbum for the newly created shared space, such as limiting access to thephoto album to the first-degree contacts of the users whose photos havebeen included in the photo album.

In addition to an event, a web page, or a photo album, the shared spacecreating process may create one or more news feeds corresponding to thenewly created shared space. In particular embodiments, the shared spacecreating process may compose a news feed entry from the posting requestfrom at least one of the subset of users (204). In particularembodiments, the shared space creating process may add the news feedentries to a news feed associated with the shared space (205). Inparticular embodiments, the shared space creating process may create astructured document (e.g., a web page) comprising the news feedassociated with the shared space. For example, assume for didacticpurposes that three first-degree friends (e.g., John, Bill, and Nick)attend a baseball game between New York Mets and Chicago Cubs at WrigleyField on 4 Jul. 2010. During the baseball game, each of them with amobile device (e.g., a mobile phone, a tablet computer) and uses theclient posting application described above to transmit posting requestsfrom the mobile device to the social networking system—e.g., posting astatus update, uploading photos taken by the mobile device, checking into a location “Wrigley Field”. There may be hundreds of other people atWrigley Field also transmitting posting requests to the socialnetworking system during the baseball game. With the example methodillustrated by FIG. 2, the shared space creating process can create aparticular shared space “Mets vs. Cubs” unique to the three first-degreefriends, and automatically associate the particular shared space to theposting requests from the three first-degree friends. For example, theshared space creating process can compose news feed entries from postingrequests from the three first-degree friends, and add the news feedentries to a news feed associated with the particular shared space.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example web page of a shared space. For example, auser (e.g., Nick) of the three first-degree friends described above mayrequest a web page associated with the particular shared space “Mets vs.Cubs” from the user's computing device 300. In response to the user'srequest, the social networking process may access one or more remotedata stores for a current score table and a current weather condition,construct a web page (301) comprising the current score table, thecurrent weather condition (302), and the news feed associated with theparticular shared space “Mets vs. Cubs” (310), and transmit the web pageto the user's computing device 300 to be displayed in a display ofcomputing device 300 (e.g., a tablet computer), as illustrated in FIG.3. Since the particular shared space is unique to the three first-degreefriends (John, Bill, Nick), news feed 310 in the example web page 301 ofFIG. 3 comprises news feed entries 312, 313, 314, 315, and 316 from theposting requests from the three first-degree friends John, Bill, andNick.

In other embodiments, the shared space creating process may create ashared space for posting requests of more than one subset of users asdescribed in the example method of FIG. 2. For example, the shared spacecreating process may create the particular shared space “Mets vs. Cubs”described above for all posting requests to the social networking systemfrom users at or near the particular baseball park during the particularbaseball game.

Access to each news feed entry associated with a shared space may bebased on privacy setting of the each news feed entry. For example, thesocial networking system may set privacy settings for each news feedentry associated with a shared space as accessible to the correspondingrequesting user of the each news feed entry and the requesting user'sfirst-degree contacts. For example, the social networking system may setprivacy settings for each news feed entry associated with a shared spaceas accessible to the corresponding requesting user of the each news feedentry and to users who are within two degrees of separations from therequesting user. For example, the social networking system may setprivacy settings for all news feed entry associated with a shared spaceas accessible to all users of the social networking system. In someembodiments, a requesting user may specify privacy setting for a postingrequest (thus a corresponding news feed entry) while making the postingrequest.

As access to each news feed entry of a news feed associated with ashared space may be specific to a particular user based on privacysettings, a web page comprising the news feed for the shared space maybe specific to a particular viewing user based on privacy settings, asillustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B. In the examples of FIGS. 3A and 3B, thesocial networking system may set privacy settings for a news feed entryassociated with the shared space “Mets vs. Cubs” (as illustrated in FIG.3) as accessible to the corresponding requesting user of the news feedentry and the requesting user's first-degree contacts. For example, afirst viewing user Adam is a first-degree contact to John and Bill inthe baseball game example illustrated in FIG. 3. A second viewing userAllen is a first-degree contact to Nick and Bill in the baseball gameexample illustrated in FIG. 3. As illustrated in FIG. 3A, web page 352comprising news feed 351 associated with the shared space “Mets vs.Cubs” for the first viewing user Adam only contains contents associatedwith his first-degree contacts John and Bill (e.g., news feed entries312, 313, 315, and 316). As illustrated in FIG. 3B, web page 362comprising news feed 361 associated with the shared space “Mets vs.Cubs” for the second viewing user Allen only contains contentsassociated with his first-degree contacts Nick and Bill (e.g., news feedentries 313, 314, and 315).

As discussed above, posting requests may be converted into individualnews feed entries displayed on a news feed of a page associated with theshared space. In addition, the posting requests associated with a givenshared space may also be aggregated into a single news feed entry fordisplay in another news feed associated, for example, a home page of auser. FIG. 3C illustrates an exemplary aggregated news feed entry 330for web page 301 illustrated in FIG. 3. For example, aggregated newsfeed entry 330 may comprise a selectable link to web page 301 (331) andprofile pictures of users associated web page 301. The content of anaggregated news feed entry may further comprise thumbnails of uploadedphotos, check-in activities, and/or status updates associated with webpage 301.

Without this aggregation, a given user accessing a home page may see anews feed with multiple news feed items from different contacts thatactually correspond to the same basic event, such as multiple picturesfrom different friends of the same event. Aggregating these postingrequests based on a shared space consolidates this information into asingle news feed entry that a user may click to link to a pageassociated with the shared space. The contents of the aggregated newsfeed entry displayed to the user, such as thumbnails of user profilepictures and uploaded photos, check-in activities, status updates, maybe different depending on the view user. An aggregated news feed entryfor a first user may display photos and other content posted by a firstset of contacts, while a second aggregated news feed entry displayed toa second user for the same shared space may show a selected sample ofcontent from a different set of users. Selection of content can be basedon affinities, degrees of separation, privacy settings, etc. Forexample, an aggregated news feed entry for a first user may includecontent from the first user's first-degree contacts. A system formeasuring user affinity is described more generally in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/503,093, filed on Aug. 11, 2006, which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes. Forexample, an aggregated news feed entry for a first user may includecontent from one or more users with measured affinity scores (to thefirst user) above a pre-determined threshold value. An aggregated newsfeed entry for a first user may only include one or more content objectsaccessible to the first user based on one or more privacy settings foreach of the one or more content objects. FIGS. 3D and 3E illustrateexample aggregated news feed entries for different viewing users for asame shared space. For example, aggregated news feed entry 350illustrated in FIG. 3D corresponds to web page 351 illustrated in FIG.3A. Aggregated news feed entry 360 illustrated in FIG. 3D corresponds toweb page 362 illustrated in FIG. 3B. Both aggregated news feed entrycorrespond to a same shared space (“Mets vs. Cubs”), but have differentcontent (e.g., profile pictures) for different viewing users. Forexample, aggregated news feed entry 350 for the first viewing Adamdescribed above contains profile pictures of his first-degree contactsJohn and Bill and a selectable link 332 to web page 351. For example,aggregated news feed entry 360 for the second viewing user Allencontains profile pictures of his first-degree contacts Nick and Bill anda selectable link 333 to web page 362. As discussed earlier, web page351 and web page 352 correspond to the same shared space (“Mets vs.Cubs”) while containing different content for different viewing usersAdam and Allen.

In particular embodiments, the shared space creating process may makethe news feed associated with the shared space available to a user whenthe user is at or near a location associated with the shared space. Forexample, the shared space creating process may access location database104 for location data of a particular user. If the particular user is ator near a location associated with the shared space, the shared spacecreating process may transmit the news feed to a client device (e.g., amobile device) of the particular user, causing an application hosted bythe client device to present the news feed to the particular user. Usingthe baseball game example described above as an illustration, Joe, afirst-degree friend of John (one of the three first-degree friends),enters a bar near Wrigley Field and access the social networking systemfrom a special-purpose client application hosted by Joe's GPS-equippedmobile phone. Based on location data transmitted to the socialnetworking system from Joe's GPS-equipped mobile phone, the shared spacecreating process may determine Joe is near the location associated withthe shared space (i.e., Wrigley Field), and transmit the news feedassociated with the shared space to Joe's mobile phone, causing thespecial-purpose client application to display the news feed in a userinterface of the special-purpose client application.

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of automatically creating a sharedspace. FIG. 4 illustrates an example flow chart or decision tree ofcreating a shared space for a mobile photo upload request. In particularembodiments, the shared space creating process may receive a mobilephoto upload request from a first user. For example, the first user mayaccess a photo uploading tool hosted by the first user's GPS-equippedmobile device (e.g. a mobile phone) and select one or more photos storedin the mobile device, causing the photo uploading tool to transmit tothe social networking system a message comprising an indication of theavailable one or more selected photos and the first user's useridentifier for the social networking system. The message may furthercomprise one or more second users (e.g., their corresponding useridentifiers) who are tagged in the one or more selected photos, and/orGPS coordinates and a time stamp associated with the one or moreselected photos (e.g., based on metadata of the one or more selectedphotos). In particular embodiments, the shared space creating processmay access event database 102 and/or location database 104 (based on thefirst user's user identifier from the mobile photo upload request) todetermine whether the first user is attending a current event (e.g., abirthday party) and/or checking in to a particular location (e.g., abook store). If the first user is attending a current event and/orchecking in to a particular location, the shared space creating processmay create a shared space corresponding to the current event or theparticular location. In particular embodiments, the shared spacecreating process may pre-populate the shared space with the one or moreselected photos from the mobile photo upload request (402). For example,the shared space creating process may store the one or more selectedphotos (uploaded to the social networking system by the photo uploadingtool) in media database 105, and associate the shared space with each ofthe uploaded photos. In particular embodiments, the shared spacecreating process may determine whether one or more second users aretagged in the one or more selected photos (e.g., based on the uploadingrequest message from the photo uploading tool). If one or more secondusers are tagged in the one or more selected photos, the shared spacecreating process may create a shared space and associate the one or moretagged users to the shared space (404). The shared space creatingprocess may store the one or more selected photos (uploaded to thesocial networking system by the photo uploading tool) in media database105, and associate the shared space with each of the uploaded photos. IfGPS coordinates and a time stamp is available from the mobile photoupload request, in particular embodiments, the shared space creatingprocess may access location database 105 for a shared space in closeproximity to the GPS coordinates and the time stamp (406). If a nearbyshared space is found, the shared space creating process maypre-populate the nearby shared space with the one or more selectedphotos from the mobile photo upload request (402). In particularembodiments, if no shared space can be automatically created, the sharedspace creating process may store the uploaded photos in media database105 (407).

FIG. 5 illustrates an example computer system 600, which may be usedwith some embodiments of the present invention. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable number of computer systems 600. Thisdisclosure contemplates computer system 600 taking any suitable physicalform. As example and not by way of limitation, computer system 600 maybe an embedded computer system, a system-on-chip (SOC), a single-boardcomputer system (SBC) (such as, for example, a computer-on-module (COM)or system-on-module (SOM)), a desktop computer system, a laptop ornotebook computer system, an interactive kiosk, a mainframe, a mesh ofcomputer systems, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a server, or a combination of two or more of these. Whereappropriate, computer system 600 may include one or more computersystems 600; be unitary or distributed; span multiple locations; spanmultiple machines; or reside in a cloud, which may include one or morecloud components in one or more networks. Where appropriate, one or morecomputer systems 600 may perform without substantial spatial or temporallimitation one or more steps of one or more methods described orillustrated herein. As an example and not by way of limitation, one ormore computer systems 600 may perform in real time or in batch mode oneor more steps of one or more methods described or illustrated herein.One or more computer systems 600 may perform at different times or atdifferent locations one or more steps of one or more methods describedor illustrated herein, where appropriate.

In particular embodiments, computer system 600 includes a processor 602,memory 604, storage 606, an input/output (I/O) interface 608, acommunication interface 610, and a bus 612. In particular embodiments,processor 602 includes hardware for executing instructions, such asthose making up a computer program. As an example and not by way oflimitation, to execute instructions, processor 602 may retrieve (orfetch) the instructions from an internal register, an internal cache,memory 604, or storage 606; decode and execute them; and then write oneor more results to an internal register, an internal cache, memory 604,or storage 606. In particular embodiments, processor 602 may include oneor more internal caches for data, instructions, or addresses. Inparticular embodiments, memory 604 includes main memory for storinginstructions for processor 602 to execute or data for processor 602 tooperate on. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system600 may load instructions from storage 606 or another source (such as,for example, another computer system 600) to memory 604. Processor 602may then load the instructions from memory 604 to an internal registeror internal cache. To execute the instructions, processor 602 mayretrieve the instructions from the internal register or internal cacheand decode them. During or after execution of the instructions,processor 602 may write one or more results (which may be intermediateor final results) to the internal register or internal cache. Processor602 may then write one or more of those results to memory 604. One ormore memory buses (which may each include an address bus and a data bus)may couple processor 602 to memory 604. Bus 612 may include one or morememory buses, as described below. In particular embodiments, one or morememory management units (MMUs) reside between processor 602 and memory604 and facilitate accesses to memory 604 requested by processor 602. Inparticular embodiments, memory 604 includes random access memory (RAM).This RAM may be volatile memory, where appropriate Where appropriate,this RAM may be dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM). Moreover, whereappropriate, this RAM may be single-ported or multi-ported RAM.

In particular embodiments, storage 606 includes mass storage for data orinstructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage 606may include an HDD, a floppy disk drive, flash memory, an optical disc,a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB)drive or a combination of two or more of these. Storage 606 may includeremovable or non-removable (or fixed) media, where appropriate. Storage606 may be internal or external to computer system 600, whereappropriate. In particular embodiments, storage 606 is non-volatile,solid-state memory. In particular embodiments, storage 606 includesread-only memory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may bemask-programmed ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM),electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), electrically alterable ROM (EAROM),or flash memory or a combination of two or more of these.

In particular embodiments, I/O interface 608 includes hardware,software, or both providing one or more interfaces for communicationbetween computer system 600 and one or more I/O devices. Computer system600 may include one or more of these I/O devices, where appropriate. Oneor more of these I/O devices may enable communication between a personand computer system 600. As an example and not by way of limitation, anI/O device may include a keyboard, keypad, microphone, monitor, mouse,printer, scanner, speaker, still camera, stylus, tablet, touch screen,trackball, video camera, another suitable I/O device or a combination oftwo or more of these. An I/O device may include one or more sensors.This disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O devices and any suitableI/O interfaces 608 for them. Where appropriate, I/O interface 608 mayinclude one or more device or software drivers enabling processor 602 todrive one or more of these I/O devices. I/O interface 608 may includeone or more I/O interfaces 608, where appropriate. Although thisdisclosure describes and illustrates a particular I/O interface, thisdisclosure contemplates any suitable I/O interface.

In particular embodiments, communication interface 610 includeshardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces forcommunication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) betweencomputer system 600 and one or more other computer systems 600 or one ormore networks. As an example and not by way of limitation, communicationinterface 610 may include a network interface controller (NIC) ornetwork adapter for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-basednetwork or a wireless NIC (WNIC) or wireless adapter for communicatingwith a wireless network, such as a WI-FI network. This disclosurecontemplates any suitable network and any suitable communicationinterface 610 for it. As an example and not by way of limitation,computer system 600 may communicate with an ad hoc network, a personalarea network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of theInternet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portionsof one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As anexample, computer system 600 may communicate with a wireless PAN (WPAN)(such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network (such as, forexample, a 802.11a/b/g/n WI-FI network, a 802.11s mesh network), aWI-MAX network, a cellular telephone network (such as, for example, aGlobal System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, an Enhanced DataRates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network, a Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE)network), or other suitable wireless network or a combination of two ormore of these.

In particular embodiments, bus 612 includes hardware, software, or bothcoupling components of computer system 600 to each other. As an exampleand not by way of limitation, bus 612 may include an AcceleratedGraphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry StandardArchitecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT)interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBANDinterconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro ChannelArchitecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, aPCI-Express (PCI-X) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA)bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, aUniversal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) interface, aInter-Integrated Circuit (I²C) bus, a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)bus, a Secure Digital (SD) memory interface, a MultiMediaCard (MMC)memory interface, a Memory Stick (MS) memory interface, a Secure DigitalInput Output (SDIO) interface, a Multi-channel Buffered Serial Port(McBSP) bus, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) bus, a General Purpose MemoryController (GPMC) bus, a SDRAM Controller (SDRC) bus, a General PurposeInput/Output (GPIO) bus, a Separate Video (S-Video) bus, a DisplaySerial Interface (DSI) bus, a Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture(AMBA) bus, or another suitable bus or a combination of two or more ofthese. Bus 612 may include one or more buses 612, where appropriate.

The client-side functionality described above can be implemented as aseries of instructions stored on a computer-readable storage mediumthat, when executed, cause a programmable processor to implement theoperations described above. While the client device 122 may beimplemented in a variety of different hardware and computing systems,FIG. 6 shows a schematic representation of the main components of anexample computing platform of a client or mobile device, according tovarious particular embodiments. In particular embodiments, computingplatform 702 may comprise controller 704, memory 706, and input outputsubsystem 710. In particular embodiments, controller 704 which maycomprise one or more processors and/or one or more microcontrollersconfigured to execute instructions and to carry out operationsassociated with a computing platform. In various embodiments, controller704 may be implemented as a single-chip, multiple chips and/or otherelectrical components including one or more integrated circuits andprinted circuit boards. Controller 704 may optionally contain a cachememory unit for temporary local storage of instructions, data, orcomputer addresses. By way of example, using instructions retrieved frommemory, controller 704 may control the reception and manipulation ofinput and output data between components of computing platform 702. Byway of example, controller 704 may include one or more processors or oneor more controllers dedicated for certain processing tasks of computingplatform 702, for example, for 2D/3D graphics processing, imageprocessing, or video processing.

Controller 704 together with a suitable operating system may operate toexecute instructions in the form of computer code and produce and usedata. By way of example and not by way of limitation, the operatingsystem may be Windows-based, Mac-based, or Unix or Linux-based, orSymbian-based, among other suitable operating systems. The operatingsystem, other computer code and/or data may be physically stored withinmemory 706 that is operatively coupled to controller 704.

Memory 706 may encompass one or more storage media and generally providea place to store computer code (e.g., software and/or firmware) and datathat are used by computing platform 702. By way of example, memory 706may include various tangible computer-readable storage media includingRead-Only Memory (ROM) and/or Random-Access Memory (RAM). As is wellknown in the art, ROM acts to transfer data and instructionsuni-directionally to controller 704, and RAM is used typically totransfer data and instructions in a bi-directional manner. Memory 706may also include one or more fixed storage devices in the form of, byway of example, hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs),flash-memory cards (e.g., Secured Digital or SD cards, embeddedMultiMediaCard or eMMD cards), among other suitable forms of memorycoupled bi-directionally to controller 704. Information may also resideon one or more removable storage media loaded into or installed incomputing platform 702 when needed. By way of example, any of a numberof suitable memory cards (e.g., SD cards) may be loaded into computingplatform 702 on a temporary or permanent basis.

Input output subsystem 710 may comprise one or more input and outputdevices operably connected to controller 704. For example, input outputsubsystem may include keyboard, mouse, one or more buttons, thumb wheel,and/or, display (e.g., liquid crystal display (LCD), light emittingdiode (LED), Interferometric modulator display (IMOD), or any othersuitable display technology). Generally, input devices are configured totransfer data, commands and responses from the outside world intocomputing platform 702. The display is generally configured to display agraphical user interface (GUI) that provides an easy to use visualinterface between a user of the computing platform 702 and the operatingsystem or application(s) running on the mobile device. Generally, theGUI presents programs, files and operational options with graphicalimages. During operation, the user may select and activate variousgraphical images displayed on the display in order to initiate functionsand tasks associated therewith. Input output subsystem 710 may alsoinclude touch based devices such as touch pad and touch screen. Atouchpad is an input device including a surface that detects touch-basedinputs of users. Similarly, a touch screen is a display that detects thepresence and location of user touch inputs. Input output system 710 mayalso include dual touch or multi-touch displays or touch pads that canidentify the presence, location and movement of more than one touchinputs, such as two or three finger touches.

In particular embodiments, computing platform 702 may additionallycomprise audio subsystem 712, camera subsystem 712, wirelesscommunication subsystem 716, sensor subsystems 718, and/or wiredcommunication subsystem 720, operably connected to controller 704 tofacilitate various functions of computing platform 702. For example,Audio subsystem 712, including a speaker, a microphone, and a codecmodule configured to process audio signals, can be utilized tofacilitate voice-enabled functions, such as voice recognition, voicereplication, digital recording, and telephony functions. For example,camera subsystem 712, including an optical sensor (e.g., a chargedcoupled device (CCD), or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor(CMOS) image sensor), can be utilized to facilitate camera functions,such as recording photographs and video clips. For example, wiredcommunication subsystem 720 can include a Universal Serial Bus (USB)port for file transferring, or a Ethernet port for connection to a localarea network (LAN). Additionally, computing platform 702 may be poweredby power source 732.

Wireless communication subsystem 716 can be designed to operate over oneor more wireless networks, for example, a wireless PAN (WPAN) (such as,for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN, an infrared PAN), a WI-FI network (suchas, for example, an 802.11a/b/g/n WI-FI network, an 802.11s meshnetwork), a WI-MAX network, a cellular telephone network (such as, forexample, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, anEnhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network, a Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) network, and/or a Long Term Evolution(LTE) network). Additionally, wireless communication subsystem 716 mayinclude hosting protocols such that computing platform 702 may beconfigured as a base station for other wireless devices. Otherinput/output devices may include an accelerometer that can be used todetect the orientation of the device.

Sensor subsystem 718 may include one or more sensor devices to provideadditional input and facilitate multiple functionalities of computingplatform 702. For example, sensor subsystems 718 may include GPS sensorfor location positioning, altimeter for altitude positioning, motionsensor for determining orientation of a mobile device, light sensor forphotographing function with camera subsystem 714, temperature sensor formeasuring ambient temperature, and/or biometric sensor for securityapplication (e.g., fingerprint reader).

In particular embodiments, various components of computing platform 702may be operably connected together by one or more buses (includinghardware and/or software). As an example and not by way of limitation,the one or more buses may include an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) orother graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture (EISA)bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT) interconnect, anIndustry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBAND interconnect, alow-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro Channel Architecture(MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a PCI-Express(PCI-X) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) bus, a VideoElectronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, a UniversalAsynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) interface, a Inter-IntegratedCircuit (I²C) bus, a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus, a SecureDigital (SD) memory interface, a MultiMediaCard (MMC) memory interface,a Memory Stick (MS) memory interface, a Secure Digital Input Output(SDIO) interface, a Multi-channel Buffered Serial Port (McBSP) bus, aUniversal Serial Bus (USB) bus, a General Purpose Memory Controller(GPMC) bus, a SDRAM Controller (SDRC) bus, a General PurposeInput/Output (GPIO) bus, a Separate Video (S-Video) bus, a DisplaySerial Interface (DSI) bus, an Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture(AMBA) bus, or another suitable bus or a combination of two or more ofthese. Additionally, computing platform 702 may be powered by powersource 732.

The present disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions,variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodimentsherein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend.Similarly, where appropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the exampleembodiments herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art wouldcomprehend.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: by one or more computingdevices, receiving, from each of a plurality of users, a currentlocation and a posting request to a social networking system; by one ormore computing devices, assessing social and spatio-temporal proximitybetween or among a subset of the users based at least in part on thecurrent location of each of their posting requests; by one or morecomputing devices, based on the assessment, creating a shared space forthe posting requests of the subset of the users that are within athreshold spatio-temporal proximity; by one or more computing devices,composing one or more news-feed entries from one or more of the postingrequests of the subset of the users; and by one or more computingdevices, adding the news-feed entries to a news feed associated with theshared space.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: by one ormore computing devices, accessing location data of a particular user ofthe social networking system; and by one or more computing devices, ifthe particular user is at or near a location associated with the sharedspace: then sending the news feed to a client device of the particularuser, causing an application hosted by the client device to present thenews feed to the particular user.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: by one or more computing devices, creating a structureddocument comprising the news feed associated with the shared space. 4.The method of claim 1, further comprising: by one or more computingdevices, creating an aggregated news feed entry for the news feedassociated with the shared space.
 5. A system comprising: one or moreprocessors; and a memory coupled to the processors comprisinginstructions executable by the processors, the processors being operablewhen executing the instructions to: receive, from each of a plurality ofusers, a current location and a posting request to a social networkingsystem; assess social and spatio-temporal proximity between or among asubset of the users based at least in part on the current location ofeach of their posting requests; create a shared space for the postingrequests of the subset of the users that are within a thresholdspatio-temporal proximity; compose one or more news-feed entries fromone or more of the posting requests of the subset of the users; and addthe news-feed entries to a news feed associated with the shared space.6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processors are further operablewhen executing the instructions to: access location data of a particularuser of the social networking system; and if the particular user is ator near a location associated with the shared space, then send the newsfeed to a client device of the particular user, causing an applicationhosted by the client device to present the news feed to the particularuser.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the processors are furtheroperable when executing the instructions to create a structured documentcomprising the news feed associated with the shared space.
 8. The systemof claim 5, wherein the processors are further operable when executingthe instructions to create an aggregated news feed entry for the newsfeed associated with the shared space.
 9. One or more computer-readablenon-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable whenexecuted to: receive, from each of a plurality of users, a currentlocation and a posting request to a social networking system; assesssocial and spatio-temporal proximity between or among a subset of theusers based at least in part on the current location of each of theirposting requests; create a shared space for the posting requests of thesubset of the users that are within a threshold spatio-temporalproximity; compose one or more news-feed entries from one or more of theposting requests of the subset of the users; and add the news-feedentries to a news feed associated with the shared space.
 10. The mediaof claim 9, wherein the software is further operable when executed to:access location data of a particular user of the social networkingsystem; and if the particular user is at or near a location associatedwith the shared space, then send the news feed to a client device of theparticular user, causing an application hosted by the client device topresent the news feed to the particular user.
 11. The media of claim 9,wherein the software is further operable when executed to create astructured document comprising the news feed associated with the sharedspace.
 12. The media of claim 9, wherein the software is furtheroperable when executed to create an aggregated news feed entry for thenews feed associated with the shared space.